Submissions

Author Guidelines

EDITORIAL POLICY

1. DJLJ has the promotion of critical and analytical approaches to law as its main objective and, towards this aim, publishes original contributions of a high academic standard. DJLJ is a national and general legal journal to which academics, members of the judiciary and members of the different legal professions may contribute.
2. No preference is given to authors from any particular institution. The decision whether to publish any submission depends on whether it meets the standards of the journal and whether space for publication is available.
3. Contributions are published in English and may consist of articles, case notes, and discussions of recent books.
4. In order to be considered for publication a contribution must be the result of original research by the author(s), meet all applicable legal principles in respect of publication (such as copyright, etcetera), contribute something sufficiently new to the existing legal literature and conform to the linguistic, technical and stylistic requirements for publication. Authors are personally responsible to ensure that their submissions meet all these requirements.
5. Submissions are accepted for consideration only on the basis that while the editor-in-chief makes the final decision on publication, submissions will be subjected to double anonymised peer and expert review.
6. The editorial committee further reserves the right to edit all submissions accepted for publication in terms of the editorial policy, as well as to shorten submissions if necessary. Unless prior arrangements have been made with the editor, an article (including footnotes and the summary) may not exceed 12 000 words and other contributions may not exceed 6500 words.
7. Authors should supply a summary of their contributions of not more than 300 words, setting out the main findings and contribution to scholarship.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1. All manuscripts are to be submitted online at the following link: De Jure Law Journal online submission.
2. All manuscripts are to conform to the PULP style guidelines. Please note that this is the new house style for the journal. Submissions that conform to previous house styles will not be considered.
3. Authors must supply their relevant contact particulars, especially e-mail address(es) and telephone numbers.
4. Authors of manuscripts must indicate their university degrees, professional qualifications and professional or academic status.
5. If manuscripts are submitted by co-authors, it must be clearly indicated that all authors have significantly contributed to the research.
6. The submitted manuscript must be original. Authors must indicate that the manuscript has not already been submitted for publication or published elsewhere. Only manuscripts that have not already been submitted for publication or published elsewhere will be considered.
7. Authors must undertake to give reasonable notice to the editor if the submission is withdrawn for any reason.
8. Authors must disclose all information that may be reasonably perceived to lead to a conflict of interest; and must declare any financial support related to the submitted manuscript.
9. All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes when so required by the publisher or editors.
10. All manuscripts selected through the process of double anonymised peer-review will be made freely available online upon publication.
11. Manuscripts must follow the Editorial Policy and Submission Requirements. Manuscripts that do not conform to these will be rejected out of hand.
12. Manuscripts will not be considered if the English is below standard. In case of doubt about the correct use of the English language, authors are advised to have their text checked by a trained proofreader / language editor before submission.
13. Footnotes must be numbered consecutively.

PAGE FEES

To provide Open-Access, DJLJ uses a business model to offset expenses and is therefore compelled to charge page fees of ZAR250-00 per page for all articles that have been accepted for publication. This amount may be reviewed by the Editorial Committee when deemed necessary from time to time.

 DJLJ does not charge submission charges.

The editor will furnish the author with an invoice once the peer-review process has been completed and the article has been accepted for publication.

REVIEW PROCESS

Screening for plagiarism: DJLJ has a strict policy of screening manuscripts for plagiarism and AI usage. The DJLJ uses the Turnitin software to detect plagiarism and AI usage prior to considering a submitted manuscript for review. Manuscripts displaying plagiarism or AI usage may be rejected on this ground alone. Authors not adhering to the DJLJ policy that verbatim quotes must be clearly indicated as such may be requested to revise their articles in light of this requirement.

In-house substantive screening: All manuscripts undergo an in-house substantive screening by the editorial committee. Manuscripts may at this stage be rejected without undergoing anonymous peer review, on grounds such as: it falls outside the scope of DJLJ; the DJLJ style guidelines were not followed; the manuscript does not conform to the formal submission requirements; the language use significantly impedes comprehension; the manuscript does not present a substantiated argument. Please note the scope of the journal: DJLJ is a general South African law journal. It publishes original contributions concerned with the development and dissemination of cutting-edge legal research. The scope of the journal is wide and supports legal academics, practitioners and scholars. Although DJLJ welcomes local as well as international submissions, contributions must demonstrate direct and substantive relevance to the South African context. The journal has the promotion of critical and analytical approaches to law as its main objectives and, towards this aim, publishes original contributions of a high academic standard.

Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage are informed about the in-house screening decision.

Peer-review process: Selected manuscripts are sent for anonymous peer review by at least two experts in the relevant field, for their views on whether the submitted manuscript is publishable. The review process is double anonymised, in the sense that reviewers are not aware of authors’ identity, and authors are not aware of reviewers’ identities. Reviewers are required to engage in an objective assessment and should indicate if they have any conflict of interest. After peer review reports are received, the editor-in-chief decide on whether to invite authors to submit a revised version of the article together with a report on how authors have implemented comments from the reviewers. On receipt of the revised version, the editor-in-chief decide on whether to publish.

The editor-in-chief reserves the right to modify manuscripts that have successfully passed through the peer-review process, to bring them in conformity with the house style, to improve accuracy, to eliminate mistakes and ambiguity, and to bring the manuscript in line with the tenets of plain legal language.

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT OF DJLJ 

Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication ethics as set out in the guidelines adopted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines). Any cases of ethical misconduct will be treated seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with these guidelines.

In the event that the DJLJ publisher or editors are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct, the publisher or editor will investigate and act upon such allegations.

When information comes to the attention of the publisher or the editor-in-chief that requires the retraction or correction of a published article, the matter must be investigated and acted upon appropriately. DJLJ is committed to publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when so required, in the issue immediately following, in line with COPE guidelines.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

 Authors should declare if they consider that they may be reasonably perceived to have a conflict of interest in respect of the content of the manuscript they submit. The ground for the potential perception of a conflict of interest must be acknowledged in the manuscript. 

Editors must refrain from participating in the selection of articles about which they may reasonably be perceived to have a conflict of interest.

External reviewers are expected to refrain from participating in the selection of articles about which they may be reasonably perceived to have a conflict of interest.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) states in its Guidelines on Good Publication Practice (2003) as follows: ‘Conflicts of interest arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that are not fully apparent and that may influence their judgments on what is published. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived.’

Conflict of interest include any personal involvement in a case or other matter related to a manuscript under consideration for publication that may reasonably perceived to lead to bias, such as having a meaningful financial interest in a related matter, having received funding, having an interest in the outcome of a case being discussed in a manuscript, or having a personal relationship. 

ARCHIVING

Published editions of the De Jure Law Journal may be archived by various third party content providers, including the National Library of South Africa.

LICENSE

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)